. >> reporter: vernon stade says in his 35 years of farming in the northern illinois town of mchenry, this year's searing drought proved to be the worst ever for his corn crop. >> this should be about six feet high now to seven feet, and it's really only about three and a half. >> reporter: but what's bad for stade's corn has been good for another crop. >> i see big pumpkins. >> pumpkins thrive in exact let's kind of warm, dry conditions that existed this summer, so stade's 35-acre pumpkin patch has yielded a bumper crop this year. >> whoo! >> reporter: he says this pumpkin harvest is the best he's seen in 10 years, and it's arrived just in time for the families who flock to his farm before halloween, posing for pictures and celebrating fall with stade's own creation, the pumpkin cannon. >> i told her it's my favorite time of the year because we love having people come out to the farm. i love to see kids laughing and screaming, scweelg, running through the pumpkins. >> good boy! >> reporter: it's also boosted his bottom line after the kraut took half his corn crop. if you had to rely